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Ignorant homeowner requesting guidance - bad install, what next?

Hello friends -

I'm a homeowner who made the unfortunate mistake of hiring a "friend of a friend" to install a new central air conditioning system. Several thousand dollars later, it is not cooling as well as the 20 year-old unit it replaced. In the future, I will always use a reputable business (with trucks, advertising NATE certification, etc), but for now, I would like to ask the community's advice on what I should do next. I very little money left to get this right.

- Hard duct with returns in the crawl space (existing, did not replace)

- New equipment is Heil R410A- 16 SEER, two-stage outside unit with Copeland scroll compressor (model DXT+), Furnace is 80% efficiency (model H8MPV), Coil is also Heil. The guy who installed the new system highly recommended Heil mainly because he was supposedly familiar with their equipment and could pick it up from a local distributed.

- Air is cool, not cold - only able to make house 20 degrees cooler than outside (95 outside, 75 inside at best)

- Air feels damp

- System seems to run 24/7

- Just change the filter for the first time and noticed it was soaked with water and water appears to be accumulating near the coil

The guy who installed it came back for a half day but say it's beyond his skills to get it working right. Could be a bad coil, compressor, or something in between. My wife is angry at me for being such a numskull, I am angry at the installer. Please tell me what to do.

oops!

Ok now you realize your error! Now your on better path, call in the pros.
Ask for 90 day payout, confess what happen. you can find a contractor that
will take a couple of payments..
Could be something very simple. Time for second opinion. Find contractor that
also sells the same brand [for warr parts if necessary.]
Thats my best advice ..
Please report back what is found and the cure.

5 tons is more that enought for 2700 sq feet. Did you have a 5 ton system
before. If not your duct work is to small. Do you have good airflow. What
type of filter do you have, what is the MERV rating, if it is to high that
may be restricting your airfow also.

With your filter wet, either evap coil is not draining properly, or you have
to low airflow, and coil is freezing up some, which will hinder performance.

I agree, 5 tons is probably a little bit oversized, but you never know the other factors involved....Sounds like, with the water issues, you may have a refrigerant leak (freezing up), or simply undercharged, maybe the blower isnt configured, maybe second stage compressor isnt wired up or configured at t'stat. When I hear about situations like these, it makes me smile, because of all the negative publicity we in the HVAC industry recieve. Chances are, Heil was used simply because that is the only brand the guy had access to. Should have paid a professional!!! Look in your local yellow pages and pay a contractor to look at your system you saved a few hundred dollars on. They will be happy to get you back on track again for a fair price. Any company I know of will work with you on paying, as long as you consistently pay on time without excuses....

"Dealer Note: Dealer locator information is maintained by Heil distributors. To inquire about dealer listings or update information, please see the Heil distributor for your area."

"If a Heil dealer is not listed for your area, check your local yellow pages! If you still can not find a contractor near you, you may contact your nearest distributor found on the distributor locator for assistance."